Clothing for your Transitional Size

After Abbie was born, I looked for pants to fit my newly expanded body. I didn’t want to fall into the standard sweatpants style, so I found me several nice elastic waist pants that were very comfortable and would hold me over until I was able to fit back into my regular clothing.

Abbie is seven, and I still wear those pants. I’ve worn them casual and I’ve worn them dressed up with heels to church.

But this past weekend my husband called me out on wearing them while Fightin’ the Frump. He says that they are the equivalent to wearing *gasp* sweatpants to church. And that he feels like people are wondering why he can’t afford to buy his family real clothes.

Then he told me he was gonna burn them…

Sooooooo… you’re saying you don’t like them??

He dragged my butt to WalMart under the guise of purchasing a wireless router. But then he shoveddragged walked me to the ladies clothing section. It had been forever since I tried on clothes; since before I got pregnant with Declan. I have a lovely wardrobe of pre-pregnancy clothes, and I am determined to fit back into them. That makes it hard to justify spending anything on transition clothes.

But seriously, there is nothing wrong with finding something flattering and comfortable for this season in my life. Who knows… my body may settle into this size.

I found three pairs of pants that really boosted my spirits. They are comfortable and yet, look really sassy and nice.

First, I found these great dress trousers from the George line ($17.95)From the Lee Riders line, these stretch front khakis. ($17.95) Mine are actually a bit flared at the bottom. More of a boot cut.

And my favorites: Lee Rider Trouser jeans ($18.95). Very comfortable and flattering. Mine are a really dark blue with gold stitching, like the pair of Gloria Vanderbilt jeans I had in 5th grade. I had a pair similar to these right out of college and I adored them. I outgrew them They shrunk, so I was thrilled to find something similar after all these years.

What about you? Do you force yourself to wear sweatpants when you are in a transition size? Or do you allow yourself to give in and purchase something that actually flatters your new shape and figure?

I have lost 120 lbs after wieght loss surgery, and still losing. One of my rules is no elastic waist pants. They lull you into a false sense of security, while regular waist pants tell you if you’ve gained. I really like the sort of wider waist pants, as in example one, they look flattering on most shapes. You have a great site ! Amie

Never Ever EVER wear sloppy clothing under the guise of “transitional”… Ever.

You must dress the body you have AT THAT MOMENT. You owe it to the people around you and most of all you owe it to yourself! Remember – your body hears everything you think – so – BE KIND! If you do not love your body you will be hard-pressed to take care of it.

Please – get to a consignment shop, or Target, or (yuck) Wal*Mart or thrift store – just buy clothing that FITS YOU TODAY. Please. Consider it a public service!

Second. I totally bought transition clothes. My theory is, you feel better about yourself, and it’s easier to get motivated to lose that weight. I had so many sets of clothes in my closet by the third child, I could have opened a consignment store!

But after Becca was born, and I lost the weight for GOOD, I got rid of all those transitional clothes so I can’t be tempted to wear them again if I put on five pounds. It was so therapeutic to clean house!

I buy transition clothes. I have bins of clothing from size 14 to 4. Seriously. Bras from size D to A. And I go thru the stack every time! I had huzby get the bins of my ‘large’ stuff just this week to wear after this baby is born. Sigh.

I was thinking about doing a post like this myself, but you did it much better than I would of.

My youngest is 8 weeks and I’m all about transistional clothes. I found a great pair of light blue pants at Target and am going to the the khaki. I’ll have to check out Wal Mart as well. Thanks for the tip.

Considering I am STILL not back to my Pre-Pregnant size–unless you could pants with STRETCH (it’s always in capitals on the tags), i have gone thru 2 transitional wardrobe sizes. I got some great advice about this: elastic waistbands let you be loose and comfy like you’re still pregant, a button-up pant makes you hold in your stomach, and supports those stomach muscles like you did naturally BEFORE pregnancy. They help you move down to a smaller size faster than you would if you wore elastic all the time.

I try to buy at least five outfits that I feel absolutely wonderful in no matter what size I am. You just don’t want to feel frumpy. You want to feel great!

And if you keep all the really small stuff, it just makes you feel guilty. I figure we should get rid of most stuff that doesn’t fit us, and then, if we ever do get back to that size, we have an excuse to go shopping!

Besides, probably 70% of what is in anyone’s closet looks awful anyway. If we only kept the stuff that was actually flattering and that made us feel better, we’d have more storage room in our homes and we’d feel a lot more empowered!

I just did the SAME thing. I was on two different drugs that caused quite a bit of weight gain (well more than I like to carry around anyway) and I cleaned out my closet and got “real” with myself (I put those clothes that did not fit in plastic containers) and found out I had NO CLOTHES (well nt enough anyway and not much I felt “sassy” in).

So, I started looking on ebay for Coldwater creek clothes – they were all new with tags (OMG how I love that brand) and also sports savvy clothes – new with tags (QVC brand) and OMG I am wearing the CUTEST outfit today (infact I posted about it a while ago on my blog – it’s the “leopard one” — we still have snow on the ground here so it’s not the springy on). http://ultrabeautyboutique.com/?p=108

I’m wearing transitional pants today, even though I’m transitioning in the opposite direction! I just entered trimester 2, so I’m wearing post-partum pants. Noting else is right. But I only have 2 pair that can cut it. Tricky stage. If I shaved my legs more frequently I might venture out in skirts more.

Great new pants! I have tried both ways. Actually, I have found that the more I wear sweats and those type of clothing, the less I lose weight. I end up either satisfied that I fit into anything or disgusted that these are the only pants I can wear. Either way, I eat more. If I have clothes that I feel good in a the moment (even if it’s only 1 or 2 outfits), it motivates me to keep going (then I can buy 1 or 2 more outfits).

My youngest is 11 weeks, and I’m all about transition clothes. I don’t like elastic-waist pants, and by the time the baby was 3 weeks old, the maternity wear wasn’t looking right anymore. That’s when I gave in and bought a pair of jeans that fit me now from Old Navy.

And this week, I went back and bought a size smaller. Like one of the previous posters said, you might end up with a wide range of sizes on your closet. But at least I’m not feeling frumpy.

After my last child, I gave in and spent the money for some nice transition clothes. I felt like I had been through so much after having a baby — my body felt so foreign to me — that it would really bolster my spirits to dress in something nicer than sweats. I just felt better about myself, overall. You made some great purchases! LOVE the trouser jeans, by the way!

Number one, do you think your husband could talk to my husband? What a cool guy, tricking you to buy nice clothes! I love it. Number two, (snort) my pants have been shrinking, too! What brand of frosting, er laundry detergent are you using?

My hubby got me a department store giftcard for Valentines Day, that was 2 weeks after I gave birth. I said I was going to save it until I lost the baby weight, but I recently spent almost all of it on some nice clothes to wear now. I will still be able to wear them when/if I lose more weight so I don’t feel bad about it.

If the smaller sizes you are hanging on to are more than three years old (counting from whenever you bought them), get rid of them. By the time you are that size again, you will want whatever colors and styles are current, not something out of style.

I did find that after pregnancy, I had a sloppy look. Even when I cleaned up, I looked sloppy because I was wearing things that were frumpy. I felt bad about myself and dressing frumpy didn’t help things. I have since started to lose a little bit of weight and with each pound, you get a boost. I’m slowly working my way downward and can’t wait to buy some new clothes! In fact, I like those George slacks you got!

I’m losing weight right now, and getting smaller than I realized I would for the amount of weight to lose. I don’t want to spend money right now (and really can’t afford it) on new clothes that I may wear a month or so. What to do, what to do?

I am on several local freecycle and freeuse groups. I pass on the clothes that have outgrown me, and seek things for my current size and next size down, and it’s all free. It’s been working well. The only elastic-waisted pants I have are workout pants and pajamas. :-)

That is such a great idea, Laura. I wish that had occurred to me at the time! The money was the main issue for me, and it was too easy to try to justify just wearing my big clothes. But getting things that fit, really does feel good!!

:-) I only just realized that the original post was 4 years ago! I was just doing random web searches to try to earn points on SwagBucks.com and typed in “transition clothing”, and your blog post came up. :)